EDC Events

The EDC organise several community events each year:

Table of Upcoming Events

You can subscribe to our email notification service in order to receive information about all of our forthcoming events.


Our Annual Early Dance Festival

We host a community-focused dance history festival each year; enthusiasts and professionals from across our community perform for each other’s pleasure. A list of our previous festivals can be found here.

The 42nd Early Dance Circle Festival

24 – 26 October 2025

Bury St Edmunds

FRIDAY

18:00 Reception opens
19:30 – 21:00 Dr Matthew Spring “Music and Dance in the Context of the 15th Century Tournament Culture” with drinks & a light supper.

SATURDAY

9:00 Festival Reception opens for rehearsals.

13:00 – 17:00 Festival Performances
18:00 – 19:15 Dinner
19:45 – 22:15 Dancing with caller Colin Hume & Red Jelly band.

SUNDAY

11:00 – 12:30 Walking tour of Bury St Edmunds’ medieval streets.

More information and the booking form can be found HERE.

Due to the Guildhall size restrictions, we may need to restrict participants to 80. Book early to avoid disappointment.


Our Annual Lecture

We host a popular dance history lecture each year. An archive of information on our previous lectures can be found here.

Reconstructing Seventeenth-Century Maypole Dance: Dance, Experience, Culture

Main Speaker: Bryony May Kummer-Seddon (Associate Lecturer, University of Lincoln)

with comments about modern Maypole dancing by Mike Ruff

28 February 2025 7:30 pm on Zoom (time TBA)

Here are the details of our 2025 Lecture.

The event is free with donations (optional) but requires registration. Please register via the event Eventbrite page. The lecture will be recorded and distributed after the event if you cannot attend.


Our Biennial Conference

The EDC hosts a major dance history conference every two years. Proceedings are published and an archive of information on our previous conferences can be found here.

EDC BIENNIAL CONFERENCE 2026

8 – 10 May 2026 

The Proceedings for 2024 are now in preparation.

St Katharine’s, Parmoor, Frieth RG9 6NN (near High Wycombe)

The  Conference brings together international specialists on historical dance topics spanning six centuries of dance history in the delightful surroundings of St Katharine’s Retreat House.


Special Events:

We host and collaborate on other events from time to time. These can include workshops, study days, and additional lectures as the opportunities arise. Many such projects are undertaken in collaboration with other organisations. Do get in touch with us if you have a joint project in mind. An archive of information on our previous special events can be found here. What follows are details of our next Special Event.

PAST EVENTS

Free Renaissance Dance Workshop for Young Dancers with Kath Waters

10:00 – 17:00 17 November, FABRIC studios, Level 5 Birmingham Hippodrome, Thorp Street, Birmingham B5 4 TB

Early Dance Circle is excited to offer young dancers an opportunity to discover Renaissance Dance thanks to a private donation by a long-term member of the society.

The Renaissance dance repertoire is varied and exciting, with solos, duets, and set choreography in a variety of forms and moods. It offers courtly romance, dramatic interaction, moments of comedy, and stately processional dignity. There is scope for intense teamwork and individual virtuosity. Opportunities for performance at historic venues are becoming more common as this period (Tudors) is covered by the school curriculum and popular TV productions.

To register, please email to secretary(at)earlydancecircle.co.uk.

Image courtesy: Dancing at Kenilworth Castle, Summer 2024, by Martin Blair

Kath Waters is an experienced teacher and performer of historical dance with a background in Classical Ballet and Contemporary Dance. She is an Artistic Director of Stratford Renaissance Dance, a co-founder of Apollo’s Revels, a music and dance ensemble specialising in Baroque Dance repertoire, and a member of Mercurius Company. She performs and teaches Historical Dance nationally and internationally.

 


The remarkably talented Mr Weaver presents…

7:30 pm 21 January 2023

The Marylebone Theatre, London

An evening of the 18th-century dance & music with The Weaver Ensemble

The Weaver Ensemble, led by Evelyn Nallen, offers an evening of music, song, and dance from the London stage of the 1700s, focused on the works of the celebrated English dancer, choreographer, and scholar, John Weaver, 1673-1760. The Weaver Ensemble will present two productions “The Loves of Mars & Venus” and “The Loves of Pygmalion”. They are not reconstructions, but celebrate Weaver’s contribution to the history of dance. They are devisCall for Papersed by Evelyn Nallen and Stephen Wyatt, and scripted by Stephen Wyatt, with a performing team of an actor, two dancers, and four on-stage musicians. Productions use original 18th – century choreographies. This is not the work of John Weaver, but offers a glimpse into the pleasure early dance can offer modern audiences. Artur Zakirov joins the Weaver Ensemble in the new year, taking over leading roles in Pygmalion and The Loves of Mars and Venus

Venue: Marylebone Theatre, 35 Park Road, London, NW1 6XT (6 mins walk from Baker Street Tube Station)

Tickets: £15 (excl booking fee) book at Eventbrite


The 2020 Celebration of the Music & Dance of Ignatius Sancho

Monday December 14

The premiere of the programme was on the EDC Facebook page and YouTube channel, it remains available to watch now. You can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOnjOprUWs0.

The Early Dance Circle has prepared a special programme of dance and music composed by Ignatius Sancho (c. 1729 – 14.12.1780) on 14 December 2020.

Sancho is famous nowadays as a man of letters and the first African to vote in a British election. Now you can enjoy reconstructions of Sancho’s choreographies and music by the Hampshire Regency Dancers, Quadrille Club and Green Ginger, as well as discussions and interviews with some knowledgeable experts on his career:

Meryl Thomson (Green Ginger), who recently recorded the CD “Dances for a Princess”. Paul Cooper, a specialist in Regency dance, who has worked a good deal on Sancho. Sally Petchey, author of a recent book about the life and dances of Ignatius Sancho: Dances for a Princess, humbly dedicated (with permission) to the Princess Royal by Her Royal Highnesses Most Obedient Servant Ignatius Sancho.